Instigator Blog

The lessons we learn as entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t just apply to our businesses. That tells me that being an entrepreneur is more than just starting a company, growing that company and trying to earn a buck; there’s something more profound going on. Or at least more interesting!

This morning my wife went into my son’s room (he’s 2 and recently switched to a “big boy bed”) to find a rather unpleasant surprise. He had taken off his diaper during the night and there was…how shall I put this…poo…everywhere.

His legs were covered in…you guessed it…poo.

• The duvet? Oh ya.
• Sheets? Check.
• Pillow? Check.
• Bed frame? Uh huh.

My wife was thrilled. I was equally excited about washing poo off my son for 20 minutes and then scrubbing the floor (there was poo in the carpet too.)

So what did this experience reflect back to me as an entrepreneur?

Business is a messy thing? It certainly can be, but I was thinking about other things…

1. Cutting corners will eventually bite you in the ass. This wasn’t the first time my son had taken off his diaper. It’s somewhat habitual actually; and my wife and I have been duct taping it in place for the last few weeks. Last night I didn’t; my son was grumpy and it was frustrating enough just putting the diaper on. I was rushing to get him into bed without having an international incident and so I skipped the tape. I’m not likely to make that mistake again.
2. Business can be extremely frustrating, but don’t sweat the small stuff. In the grand scheme of things, while it’s pretty darn annoying to wake up to a poo catastrophe, it’s not the end of the world. You clean up and move on. No one is sick. No one died. Sure I feel like I’m covered in poo, but so what? My son is healthy, happy and a genius (don’t ya know!) so I can’t really complain.
3. There’s more to life than business. You’d think something like this would make me want to work more not less, so I could avoid being at home when the poo starts flying. But in fact, it’s incidents like this that let you step out for a bit and reflect. Toss a bit of humor in there too because if you can’t laugh at yourself or your situation, you’re going to be one boring and grumpy person.

The lessons we learn as entrepreneurs and small business owners can be taken outside of their business context and applied to everything else we do. Even with the silliness of this example, it’s true.

Better entrepreneurs can make better people, if they bring the lessons learned in business outside of work.

On a side note — if anyone has a better solution than duct tape for keeping a diaper on (and don’t worry, we’re not taping it to his skin, just around the diaper itself!), I’m all ears. I wonder if Barb at Great Family Gadgets might have some ideas…

Image by Kevin & Kathy.

Manic entrepreneurship is quite common. It’s when small wins or small defeats cause immense mood swings from julibant positivity to utter despair. When first starting a business, these feelings might be common. Or, when things don’t seem to be going as well as you hoped…

A client victory will send a manic entrepreneur soaring. A client loss will send a manic entrepreneur into feelings of defeat. Smaller incidents can trigger manic entrepreneurship too; a compliment might make you feel like a million bucks, whereas a complaint makes you feel like you should give up.

Manic entrepreneurship is a scary place to be.

• It’s rarely a reflection of reality.
• It rarely leads to positive progress.

Even uber-highs don’t lead to great progress, because you might delude yourself into thinking little else has to be done while you’re so successful. Uber-lows cripple you; they lead to inaction, which is an entrepreneur’s death knell.

So how can you avoid manic entrepreneurship?

Click to continue →

Two days without posting here. Uh oh. Let’s hope people don’t abandon me!

I’ve been “quiet” for a couple of reasons. Mostly, things at Grasshopper New Media are picking up and keeping me crazy busy.

In the last few days we’ve initiated several great projects that will go live soon.

The first is Small Biz Interviews which is a spinoff of The Great Big Small Business Show. Recently at GBSBS, Becky McCray did an interview with Pat Matthews, CEO of Webmail.us, an email hosting/management company. It’s a great interview; Becky does a good job of asking important (non-fluff!) questions and Pat’s answers can help any small business or entrepreneur starting out.

Small Biz Interviews will be focused on doing interviews with CEOs, business gurus and veteran entrepreneurs, aiming to help small businesses gain some great insight.

The second project is The Creative Venture, which will be a weekly podcast (and video blog) for creative people trying to earn income from their creative talents. It will be hosted by Tony Clark from Success From The Nest. Tony’s a software developer, consultant, coach, entrepreneur and stay at home dad. Lots of creative people (or as Tony calls them “creatives”) have amazing talent but can’t bridge the gap to creating practical, money-making businesses. Tony and The Creative Venture are going to help.

Oh, Tony’s also a cartoonist. The cartoons on his blog are his own creations…very cool.

I don’t want to forget The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show from Jimmy Moore. Jimmy’s done one episode, which has already seen over 200 downloads! Jimmy lost 200 pounds with a low-carb lifestyle and if you’re into low-carb and getting healthy, Jimmy’s going to motivate and inspire you.

There are other projects in the hopper too, we’re bringing in new content, new talent and a ton of fun. It’s a blast.

As a kid I used to create crazy milkshake concoctions with half the ingredients in the fridge. Toss it all in the blender, churn it up and voila. (I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that right?)

Usually…it tasted like crap.

Partnerships are like those crazy milkshakes - there’s a ton of ingredients and they often sour. Combine personalities, skill sets, goals, egos, vision, ownership stakes, risk tolerance and a whole bunch of other things. Stir like mad and that’s a partnership.

Partnerships are hard.

Almost anyone that’s ever worked with a partner has a story to tell. Often, a horror story. The worst case is the “dud partner” — a partner that doesn’t pull his/her own weight.

Do you think it’s possible to carry dud partners on your back and succeed?

I used to. Now, I’m not so sure.

I’ve had a couple “dud partners” in the past, and I’ve learned:

It’s best if you get them out of the business as soon as possible.

• The longer you wait, the harder it becomes.
• The longer you wait, the longer it’ll take to right the ship.
• The longer you wait, the more frustrated you’ll grow. That’s not healthy.
• The longer you wait, the less likely your business will succeed.

Having the conversation with a partner that starts with, “I don’t think this partnership is working…” will be anything but easy. There’s ego, personality, history and a bunch of other things mixed in there. It could get ugly. It could go smoothly. It’s a case-by-case basis.

But ultimately, you have to get rid of the “dud partner.”

If that’s your attitude, you’ll never succeed.

Have you ever used the term “my baby” for your business, startup or an idea you’re looking to get off the ground?

I know how you feel. And we all want to believe that our baby is perfect. Sorry, that’s just not the case.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners need a certain amount of ego, bravado and intestinal fortitude to succeed, but if you end up blind to the feedback of others you’re cutting off huge opportunities.

Your idea, business or startup might be great but it’s not perfect.

Here are some things to keep in mind when soliciting, digesting and accepting feedback:

• Be prepared for anything. When you start looking for feedback get ready for all manner of opinion and input. It’s almost impossible to get 100% agreement on anything, and even if you could, it’s not necessarily a good thing. Get enough feedback and it should run the gamut from “I hate this” to “I love this more than life itself.”
• Stay gracious. There’s no reason to bite the hand that feed(back)s you. Even if the person spits in your face (ok, feel free to respond less-than-graciously in that circumstance.)
• Ask questions. Don’t take feedback without following it up. Ask questions to get more information out of people. Start a dialogue with people, including those that provided scathing feedback and those that provided uber-positive feedback. Remember: feedback is only useful if it’s used. Building a discussion with people who provide feedback is one way of using it.
• Moderate the feedback. Don’t automatically dismiss the highest praise and lowest results from the feedback you receive (this isn’t figure skating) but finding the “center” of the curve (where most of the feedback would be plotted on a graph) is a good way of gauging the value of that feedback.
• Ambivalent feedback is the worst. I’d rather someone hate what I’m doing (cause there’s a good chance others exist on the opposite side of that spectrum) than not care at all. Ambivalency to an idea, business or startup is death.
• Shotgun reactions to feedback won’t help. There’s no point reacting insanely fast, or blasting a giant hole in the wall of your idea or business because of feedback. You’re not running a race, it’s a marathon. Better to take some time, digest the feedback, analyze it from a 50,000 foot view and the ground floor, before moving forward. (Am I mixing metaphors enough for you?)

Feedback is Your Friend.

Don’t shy away from it. Go out and get it. Share your ideas and be open-minded enough to accept feedback in whatever form it comes. Remember: love and hate are better than “whatever” ambivalence. Ambivalence sucks.